Including citations and quotations to your works lends credibility to their content, helps break up the visual monotony of the text, and provides readers with outside sources to further explore the topics covered.

In addition, citations and quotations allow writers to leverage their own research efforts. The source of key information is tracked and can be easily found in published articles.

As long as their sources are trustworthy, citations and quotations add value to the text.

It is also an elegant way to recognize creators who share their ideas. Citing your sources let readers know that you haven't simply plagiarized other people's writing.

The Copyright Act provides for a fair use exception* that allows citations to be used for certain purposes: education, research, review, criticism, news reporting.

However, the law requires that the source of the work be acknowledged. This is the bare minimum.

In fact, it is always best to get permission, even if you do give credit.

*Fair use

Warning! Fair use is a complex notion, which is not quantifiable, and requires a case-by-case analysis process that depends on context. It cannot simply be transposed into a uniform policy.

There are several styles of bibliographic references.

Of course, college and university students can refer to the standards of their faculty or institution. 

When looking for best practices for creating the references that accompany citations, we find the APA style. 

It's one of the standards in the field, aimed at both students and professionals to help them write citations in a consistent manner.

"APA style is an editorial format defined by the American Psychological Association for scientific publications and writings, in the humanities and behavioral sciences."

— Wikipédia, APA style